A Reel Review: MAMMA MIA! - HERE WE GO AGAIN

Based on the Broadway musical of the same name, and featuring the music of 70’s pop-group Abba, MAMMA MIA was a surprise hit in 2008, and its story wrapped everything up nice and tight with an uplifting and inspiring ending. It didn’t seem like the characters and storyline had anywhere else to go, so to make a sequel, the answer was to begin by going backwards with HERE WE GO AGAIN.

Five years after the events of MAMMA MIA, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), is running her mother Donna’s (Meryl Streep) villa hotel on a Greek island, who had passed away the year prior. As Sophie prepares for a grand re-opening of the hotel, she discovers more about her mother’s past; explored in flashbacks with Lily James playing the younger Donna.

The first MAMMA MIA may have ended in a storybook finale, so for a follow-up, director Oliver Parker shows us what happens after the happy ending. There are real-life happenings and issues going on in this fairy tale, with Donna’s passing and Sophie’s relationship with her husband (Dominic Cooper) under stressors due to the hotel problems and potential job-relocations. When the film isn’t spending time with our struggling characters, it presents extended flashbacks with the younger Donna and how she came to be the person we saw in the first film. There are strong parallels going on between the younger Donna and her daughter Sophie in the present, and the dual-storytelling works and works well. It’s the younger Donna finding out who she is, with Sophie doing the same in following the footsteps of her mother. HERE WE GO AGAIN often feels like two different films, but the two storylines eventually come together nicely, despite their differences in tone; where Sophie’s world in the present has a hanging melancholy because of Donna’s passing, the scenes in the past have the joy and optimism of the first film.

HERE WE GO AGAIN has a lot of work to do in filling its role as a prequel, and for the most part it does its job well. How Donna arrived at the hotel and why is explored, and even provides the origin of her now famous overalls. Where it stumbles a little is when Donna meets her three lovers (the younger versions of Sam, Harry, and Bill…played by Jeremy Irvine, Hugh Skinner, and Josh Dylan, respectively). What we were shown in the first film about these young men is thrown out the window in favor of new storylines. There’s a break in continuity from film to film that shows just how difficult it is to “prequel” any given story. It’s an annoyance, but far from a dealbreaker.

The music of Abba is once again front-and-center. With most of the group’s major hits played in the first film, lesser known works are used here…although some of the A-list songs such as Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen make reprisals. The musical numbers are fantastic, and a late duet with Andy Garcia and Cher (!) is a showstopper.

Director Oliver Parker keeps the pacing brisk and the balance between laughs and drama on a nice edge. The highlight of the film has to be the transitions between the present and past, which are clever and downright jawdropping. The film looks great, and the cast looks like they’re always having a blast.

Amanda Seyfried is once again like staring into the sun; full of energy and beautiful. Lily James as the younger Donna is also fantastic. Members of the older cast, such as Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Christine Baranski, and Julie Walters are fine but amount to extended cameos. The younger cast is perfectly matched with their older counterparts, which makes the flashbacks an amazing watch.

The finale arrives with an emotional gut-punch that most will not see coming, and anyone who doesn’t cry over it simply has no soul. It’s a powerful moment delivering messages of love and family, and more-than makes up for the continuity breaks and the living-funeral vibe of most of the present-day scenes. HERE WE GO AGAIN is a worthy follow-up to the first film, and successfully takes the characters to new, and natural places.

BOTTOM LINE: See it